Dissolved carbon dioxide stripping while maintaining volatile components by feeding gaseous nitrogen using a...

Area of Science:

• Food Science and Technology
• Chemical Engineering
• Separation Processes

Background:

• Dissolved carbon dioxide (dCO2) can negatively impact the quality and stability of food and beverage products.
• Effective methods are needed to remove dCO2 without compromising desirable volatile flavor components.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the efficacy of nitrogen microbubbles (N2MB) for removing dCO2 from a model sake-flavored solution.
• To evaluate the impact of N2MB treatment on preserving volatile flavor compounds.

Main Methods:

• A model solution containing sake flavor was subjected to dissolved carbon dioxide stripping using nitrogen microbubbles generated by a microbubble generator.
• The effect of varying nitrogen gas flow rates (100-200 mL/min) on dCO2 stripping efficiency was examined.
• The preservation of volatile components was assessed after N2MB treatment, with and without cooling below 10°C.

Main Results:

• dCO2 stripping efficiency significantly increased with nitrogen gas flow rate, reaching high levels at 200 mL/min.
• Efficient dCO2 stripping (from 3,000 mL solution) was achieved within 4 minutes at a flow rate of 200 mL/min.
• Cooling the solution to below 10°C during N2MB treatment effectively preserved volatile flavor components, with minimal reduction observed even after 15 minutes.
• Non-microbubbled nitrogen gas was significantly less effective for dCO2 stripping.

Conclusions:

• Nitrogen microbubble technology, particularly when combined with cooling below 10°C, is a highly effective method for removing dissolved carbon dioxide from sake-flavored model solutions.
• This approach successfully strips dCO2 while maintaining the integrity of volatile flavor compounds, offering a promising technique for beverage processing.